This is some swirling stories right now going on that Hoskins was supposed to give Sandra Pupatello his support this past weekend, described here in the Globe and Mail. I look forward to the tell-all book from Eric on this, but until then, we get this story that does no favours for Liberal unity.

As a Kathleen Wynne delegate to the leadership convention, I will probably take some time in trying to articulate the significance of the win and not rush into a blathering post about how freakin’ awesome it all is. (By the way, Adam Goldenberg really nailed the personal aspect in his post for Macleans.) For now, . . . → Read More: Ontario Liberal leadership: on the numbers

On Saturday, Maple Leaf Gardens was a cauldron of emotions. There were tears, broken promises, dashed dreams, and shrieks of pure unadulterated joy. That’s to be expected when you bring 2,000 people with very different motivations and beliefs together, and ask them to figure out who will govern a province of over 12 million . . . → Read More: Calgary Grit: Convention Math

After about two hours sleep, I made the trek downtown from Scarborough bright and early Saturday morning to see if I had a shot at being promoted from alternate to voting delegate, and would have the opportunity to casta vote for Gerard Kennedy in the Ontario Liberal leadership race. Alas, I wasn’t on the list, . . . → Read More: A BCer in Toronto: Day 2 a Wynning day at #olpldr

I’ll post a recap of the weekend that was and thoughts on the road ahead tomorrow, but for now let me take a moment to congratulate Kathleen Wynne on her well deserved victory. She’s a likable candidate with an impressive record who ran a great campaign, and I was proud to vote for Ontario’s . . . → Read More: Calgary Grit: #Wynning

I wrote a blog entry for Huffington Post two days before the Ontario Liberal Party delegate election meetings titled ‘Kathleen Wynne for the Ontario Liberal Leadership Win?‘. I summarized the reasons I thought Kathleen Wynne was best positioned among the six remaining candidates to win the Liberal Leadership. This isn’t and wasn’t an endorsement, but . . . → Read More: John Laforet: My Thoughts On Kathleen Wynne Being Elected Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party

5 years ago, the Democratic Party made history by picking an African-American as their Presidential nominee, and the American people made history by electing him their first African-American president. It is no hyperbole to say that tonight, Ontario Liberals made their own bit of history by a) choosing a woman Premier, and b) choosing . . . → Read More: Scott’s DiaTribes: Double history is made with Wynne winning #olpldr

We’re in the middle of a lull while we await 2nd round results for the OLP Leadership Convention. The two front runners are neck and neck (Wynne and Pupatello), with Eric Hoskins having declared for Wynne and Takar Harinder having moved to Pupatello (despite not actually dropping off the 2nd ballot in time).

Eric Hoskins went to Kathleen Wynne. Many of Eric’s delegates came to Sandra – I helped greet them – and were happy to be there!

Minutes later, Harinder Takhar moved his team to Sandra Pupatello. I’m told Harinder missed, by a single minute, the deadline to take his name of his ballot. He decided to . . . → Read More: LisaKirbie.com: Convention floor update

I’m about to head off to the train station to catch my ride back into the Ontario Liberal Leadership Convention, and my first musing of the day (on my blog anyhow) is pondering when we might have a declared winner.

I’m increasingly of the belief that the way to cover a political convention, social media-wise, is to Tweet during the day, and provide a more thought-out perspective at night. So that’s what I’m going to try to do for my coverage of the Ontario Liberal Party leadership race this weekend, where I’m a Gerard Kennedy . . . → Read More: A BCer in Toronto: Day 1 is for Dalton at #olpldr

“Ontario Liberals: No poll bounce for Grits after leadership campaign.” This one shows Pupatello and Wynne and Kennedy in the same ballpark percentages, give or take a few more for Kennedy given his profile, going into tomorrow’s voting. No gaps that would give any one of them a noticeable advantage. So, not helping.

Well since I’m here on the blog dime, I best say something about the big event of the night. Dalton McGuinty’s sign-off speech is what everyone was here for. The main event before everyone piles out of here and heads off to hospitality suites where delegates will be wooed in this last of a kind . . . → Read More: Impolitical: Dalton McGuinty farewell speech

Today was mostly about registering delegates and getting everyone organized. The vast majority of the time was the tribute to outgoing premier, Dalton McGuinty. Premier McGuinty thanked his family, his mother – and regretted that his father could not see him enter public life.

Looks like they’ve manage to pull in a few 100 protesters. On another note, it looks like some delegates were caught behind that pileup on the 401 and I think the party has decided to extend the hours for casting the first ballot. Interesting what it might portend if this makes the delegate composition on the . . . → Read More: BigCityLib Strikes Back: Teachers’ Protest And OLPLDR Notes